court Trip for baby- Post #6 Meeting baby day

We were not scheduled to meet our son until this afternoon by Holt, so we had to come up with a creative way to use our time in the morning to keep our minds off the important afternoon!

After breakfast we were treated to a coffee ceremony with the other couples from other agencies. It was beautiful. How these people wear such pretty white garments without ruining them I will never understand.







Check out this attractive man with his little coffee cup :-)



Workineh (the guest house owner) took us on a culture tour this morning. We visited St. George’s Cathedral and a museum of the history of the orthodox church in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has such a rich history, especially regarding the Christian church! Ethiopia is listed within the Bible 42 times- most specifically in I Kings regarding the relationship of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon that began the dynasty and lineage from which Christ came. The church is modeled after the tabernacle that includes the Holy Place and also the Holy of Holies that contains a replica of the ark of the covenant and ten commandments (we were not allowed to see that). We were surprised that they let us enter the Holy place that included where the King and Queen sat for worship. Off to the side of the Holy Place were the tombs of the most recent King and Queen that died during the Italian invasion in the 40-60’s. The church was built on top of the Emporer’s grave that came before them. The cathedral is a holy place where people come to be closer to God and to pray. There were many crippled and otherwise diseased people that were there worshipping. We were asked to remove our shoes before entering the church.









Here is the above ground, encased, granite tomb of the King killed during the Italian invasion. Kinda freaky that he is in there.... but I digress. The church is built over the grave of the Emporer.

Following the church visit, we went to do some quick shopping so that we didn’t need to get everything tomorrow. We picked up some things for the house and the boy’s room so that we will have a more even mix of Colombian and Ethiopian things.

We came back to the guest house, ate a pizza, and sat upstairs waiting for our driver to arrive (freaking out). Our Holt driver arrived a bit after 1p and took us to the new Holt office building to meet with our lawyer and program person to discuss court proceedings tomorrow. Following that, we hopped in the van and drove to the care center. We took off our shoes and were told to take a seat, and about a minute later one of the nannies brought out our little boy.

Please note the packed bag with baby toys for the day. Freaking out.



Please note the photos of the care center where my baby boy is. Photos taken while freaking out.



These are the stairs where many parents meet their children for the first time.



He has some wonderful baby chub but isn’t as heavy as I thought he would be. He didn’t cry and was very calm. His nanny was able to get some wonderful smiles out of him that we hadn’t seen yet! We were given a nice long visit. We met with the pediatrician, but Ted didn’t really have anything to discuss that would be able to change. We are very fortunate that he has been so healthy in his time here. We sort of forgot how much (or lack thereof) that 6 month olds do. He is really teething right now and wants everything in his mouth to munch on. He can roll from his back to his stomach and is starting to belly scoot backwards a little bit. He can also spin around on his belly if he wants to. Overall, in this environment he is a very mellow child. We will see if that is his true personality in the future when he becomes more comfortable with us.

Here is all that we can legally share with you for now. We have learned a lot about patience in this process, you will just have to be patient a few weeks longer :-)







After calling home to fill everyone in on him and backing up all of our photos and videos on the computer, we are finally settled in, watching Arab music videos, and planning for court tomorrow morning. We hope that all goes well, that we pass court, and that we can enjoy our final day in our sons birth country before we return home for the Christmas season.

Good night!